Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 in first-person? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response when I discovered this hidden feature. I must step away from overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and take a spin around the classical city.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is typically played from a bird's-eye view. But, should you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you can explore the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was included in the previous Anno title, I felt excited to experience it in the new release, yet I had doubts it would operate prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this option can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
Once I crawled out, I strolled the busy roads across my settlement and visited shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to witness my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed a variety of intricacies I might have missed from above: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that I could not just view agricultural plots, but also enter them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators have the budget for that), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Although I was fully prepared to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see any individual strands of hair, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, pupils, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I decided to experiment a bit, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. In case you’re wondering, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine open-world vehicular chaos — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and endeavored to damage them, but was entirely disregarded. The proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something with my burning arrows.
